Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 15, 1991 TAG: 9103150215
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: SALT LAKE CITY LENGTH: Medium
The Wildcats, seeded second in the West Region, were among eight teams sent to the Huntsman Center at the University of Utah. The other half of the West bracket is at the McKale Center on Arizona's campus in Tucson.
The NCAA has followed a policy in recent years that prohibits teams from playing on their home courts, although there are cases where teams are allowed to play relatively close to their campus.
Brigham Young, which faced Virginia on Thursday night at the Huntsman Center, is located only 40 miles from Salt Lake City in Provo. Virginia was allowed to play in Richmond, Va., last year.
"To tell you the truth, when [the rule] went into effect, I talked to our athletic director and suggested that neither Arizona State nor Arizona volunteer their facilities for the NCAA anymore," Olson said.
It was Olson's recommendation that the coliseum in Phoenix, Ariz., put in a bid for the West Regional. Phoenix is located roughly a 1 1/2-hour drive from Tucson.
"That way we could be assigned to play in Phoenix," Olson said. "I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't want to play in a facility that's 40 miles from their home. It's a tremendous advantage in terms of the home crowd."
\ After capturing the regular-season championship in the Pacific 10, Olson said he was more than happy this year not to prepare his team for a conference tournament.
The Pac-10 tournament was canceled this year after a four-year run, although Olson guessed that the coaches would have voted 7-3 or 6-4 in favor of it.
"When I first came to Arizona [in 1983], everybody was in favor of trying it and seeing if it would serve various purposes," Olson said.
"We wanted to increase media attention nationwide. We wanted to increase interest in our Pac-10 area and the No. 1 reason was to keep everyone playing and motivated as the season went along."
The reason for scrapping the conference tournament after the 1990 season was that it couldn't sell out and was not profitable.
"Tucson to Seattle is as far as Tucson to Chicago," Olson said. "You've got to realize how spread out our conference is. You can't drive to one locale."
Olson was opposed to playing the tournament even though his Wildcats won the championship each of the last three years.
"I didn't like the idea of missing another three days of classes," Olson said. "The year we made the Final Four [in 1988], it was four straight weeks of missing two or three days of classes.
"I think it does more to harm teams than to help them. I look at Providence and wonder if they wouldn't have made the NCAAs if they hadn't lost in the first round of the Big East Tournament."
\ Brigham Young coach Roger Reid conceded that Utah was the rightful Western Athletic Conference champion after winning the regular season, but said Utah complaints about a lack of respect were a case of "sour grapes."
Reid pointed out that the WAC is different from the ACC and various other Eastern conferences in that it has always recognized the regular-season winner as the conference champion.
"It was decided several years back that the tournament champion would receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in hopes of getting another team in the field, but that hasn't happened," Reid said.
\ Brigham Young almost surely has the oldest team in college basketball, with two 23-year-olds and three 24-year-olds, all of them veterans of Mormon missions.
The Cougars can also claim the largest roster in Division I basketball, if you count the six members of the BYU program that are currently on missions. The active roster includes 16 players.
Among the players on missions this year is Randy Reid, son of the coach. The younger Reid redshirted last year, then left for a two-year mission, after which he will have four years of eligibility.
"I would rather have a kid go on his mission before he goes to college," Reid said, "but I don't think there's any benefit to having older players. This isn't football, where they can use the extra time in the weight room."
\ Virginia guard Chris Havlicek, a redshirt freshman, was in street clothes Thursday night after suffering a broken nose Tuesday in practice in Charlottesville, Va.
Havlicek collided with freshman Cornel Parker while battling for a loose ball.
by CNB